From the ProdigyChild's Shadow
by Someonething94
Summary: Toshiko Smith has just taken her brother's place in Ouran, but not in her family. She is not the prodigy-child her big brother was. She is stuck in the shadows of his perfection and wants out. Maybe the Host Club can help. M so I can do whatever. ?/OC
1. Rude?

Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran or the characters

I only own the plot and my character Toshiko as well as minor OCs I may throw in here.

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><p>It was the end of the school day; the time all students spent studying, socializing, or in a club. The new student, Toshiko, did not know what to do with the extra time, nor could she find a dance club anywhere in the humongous school so far. Her brother, the idealprodigy-child of her family, had formally gone to this school up until recently. And, up until recently, she went to a public school with normal, commoner-status students for reasons unknown to her. Because the large hallways were so eerily quiet, Toshiko put on her headphones and played her top ten favorite songs. This caused her to flutter through the empty hallways stupidly. Thank the heavens no one was there to witness her dancing to music one could not hear without her headphones. Her sleek, black hair was pulled into two buns at the back of her head. They were not pulled so tight that they put a strain on her charcoal colored eyes, but they were tight enough. However, the buns did get in the way when Toshiko took off her headphones, so she stretched them over the buns and let the piece rest on her shoulders around her neck.

Then, with a feeling of impending regret, the girl opened one of the double doors that lead into Music Room 3. Rose petals made a full-out attack on her vision, then she saw them. Two... Four... Six boys, and one unfortunate brown eyed girl. The taller of two blond boys walked over to her and gently touched her face, his eyes were an odd purple. Toshiko ducked away from him, "What the hell is your problem? I was looking for a dance club, walk into a room with a six-to-one ratio of girls to boys, and get attacked by some idiot! I hate this school already!"

The shorter of the two black haired boys spoke up, "You must be the new student in class 2-B. Good grades, no heritage."

"Just because I'm half American does _not_ mean that I have _no_ heritage! My brother used to go to this school." Toshiko scoffed, "You don't seem to have any manners." An evident scowl appeared on the girls face, but she avoided using irritable body language.

The black-haired boy with glasses spoke up again, "You mean Nori Smith. Do you care to inform us as to why he no longer goes to Ouran, considering he didn't finish the school year or graduate?"

"How should I know? My family is full of idiots." Veins began to pop out of Toshiko's head and her hands balled into fists. Then she let it all go. She flexed her fingers and straightened her posture. "I'm done being harassed. I was going to ask for help, but clearly you all have your own agenda. Unfortunately, it includes being ignorant assholes."

"Haruhi! You're a commoner, you should know how to handle this girl!" Tamaki cried out.

Toshiko turned back to face the group again. "... Haruhi... As in Fujioka, Haruhi?" She asked. "Why did you cut your hair? It was really cute, you know that right? I mean, it still is, but short hair is really hard to play with, you know?"

The host club, save for Mori and Kyoya, gawked at the situation presented before them. "You two know each other?" They were all in shock and awe. Who would have suspected. However, the newly found information brought up more questions than answers. "How come you went to a commoner's school instead of Ouran, like your brother. Were your parents too poor or something, Toshiko?" The twins asked in unicine.

"Shut up! I'm talking to Haruhi!" The black-haired girl growled ferociously. "Anyway, Fujioka-san, you should definitely come over Saturday night! I haven't talked to you in forever since you transferred schools. Also, how come you're dressed as a boy? And what the hell kind of club is this?"

"It's a long story, but this is the Host Club," Haruhi answered.

"Fujioka-san? We just call her Haru-chan." The twins always had something to say, no matter how irrelevant. "As for your earlier question, I don't know if Ouran has a dance club."


	2. House Guests

As it turned out, Ouran did not have a Dance Club. Which was odd, considering the school had a Host Club of all things to have a club for. These kids were filthy rich! Why did they not even consider having a dance club of some sort. Everyone with money had to know how to dance properly, lest that person wished to make a fool out of his or her self at a formal. The girl sighed with gritted teeth, trying to hide her frustration. Curse this stupid school and curse her parents for her enrolling her to it. Curse her brother for not taking up everyone's attention anymore. "Oi! Toshiko-san, you there?" One of the twins asked as he poked her shoulder while the other snapped his fingers in front of her face. Then Tamaki joined in by hitting on her.

"Get off of me!" The black haired girl snarled viciously. "I'm engaged you know! I have no reason to even be in a stupid Host Club," she grumbled under her breath and folded her arms over her chest making a sour face at the floor. "Fujioka-san, please come over tomorrow and spend the night. I still live in the same house."

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><p><em>"Toshiko, you just aren't Nori. He's a boy, he can carry on the family name. He holds so much more potential for us," a woman with long, silky, black hair said gently as she pet her daughter's hair.<em>

_The girl's father smiled solemnly. "My darling, you have to understand, we do care. We arranged a marriage for you with a young man about your age who belongs to a wealthy family."_

"Their main concern was always Nori... The boy..." Toshiko thought out loud to herself and exhaled. There was a long silence as she washed her dishes. She never had any maids or butlers, and her parents had her living in a different house from the rest of the family. A modest, middle class, family house. The black haired girl did all of her own work, the laundry, the cooking, cleaning, everything. "Maybe I should be a boy. The one they want. Nori failed them... Even if they don't care about me, I can always try. If all else, I can just fuck them over publicly. Nothing will change, they'll still love Nori more."

Having made her decision, Toshiko finished up her chores and went out to buy more boyish, loose fitting clothes to wear to school and in public. There was no need to wear the school uniform, it wasn't a requirement, more of a convenience. She would wear hats over her buns, grow her hair out long; she would wear wigs if she had to do so. Nothing would stop the enraged teen from trying to be accepted by the rest of her family.

The next day, Haruhi came over, and brought the rest of the Host Club who had insisted on coming. Reluctantly, Toshiko let them into her home, requesting for them to leave their shoes at the door and go inside for tea. "Um, Toshiko-sempai, what are you wearing?" Haruhi asked meekly as she stepped into the living room while the other girl ran around the house looking for a jacket of some sort.

The black haired girl looked up at her friend with puzzled eyes. "What do you mean? I'm wearing some of Nori's old clothes. Why?" She asked, blind to whatever problem Haruhi seemed to have seen. It was luck that Toshiko wasn't wearing a wig or her binder at the time, otherwise the rest of the host club would have been asking questions. After swirling around to get her jacket on, she was off to the kitchen to make more tea for her unexpected visitors. "Why are the rest of you here? I could have sworn I only invited over Fujioka-san."

"Oh you did!" Tamaki admitted happily as he wandered about the decent sized living room and kitchen-dining room. "We wanted to make sure Haru-chan was safe being here!"

"You wanted to follow Haruhi and see Toshiko's home," corrected Kyoya in the background noise of shuffling and snooping that the rest of the host club was doing.

"I see," Toshiko replied solemnly, "How do you like your tea?"

Haruhi already had hers and had tasted it, immediately relieving her face of a gloomy expression for pure amazement. "Wow! This is great! What blend did you use?" She asked, excited at the possibility of being able to bring some home to her dad. The brunette received a bag in her hands as her friend took care of the unexpected guests that had also shown up at her door. After checking out the package, Haruhi gazed back up at her friend in awe. "For me?" She asked, her eyes big and sparkling with excitement.

Toshiko let a smile grow on her face as she nodded happily. "Of course, anything for a friend," she said gently as she tied name tags onto the handles of every tea cup before putting them on a trey and maneuvering them onto the table. A majority of the group seemed to notice this gesture, however Tamaki stayed enthralled with the house and kept on wandering about, checking every nook and cranny of the first floor that he could. The black haired girl sighed softly to herself and left the table to retrieve the puppy-like boy. She returned to her guests with Tamaki latched around her arm and her hands holding him in place as he continued to soak in all of his surroundings.

"How come you live in a commoner house, Shi-chan?" Hani wondered innocently. It seemed as if he had already finished his entire cup of tea due to it's sweetness.

The older of the two girls looked up at him from her cup of tea and shrugged. "Because I'm a girl," she said softly as she gazed back into the pool of liquid that was rippling under her breath.

It seemed to be a sore topic for her, so Hani dropped it. "Do you have any sweets?" He inquired, still looking cute and innocent as ever. If she hadn't been informed earlier by Haruhi, she would have assumed that the small blonde was still in middle school.

In response the girl took a lid off of a white ceramic jar at the center of the table and slid it over to him. "It's not much, sorry," she said then took up her cup of tea again and hummed almost silently to herself. The short third year was clearly overjoyed by the variety of tasty treats in the jar, much to Toshiko's relief. After a while of watching her tea emit steam, she finally began to sip at it.

The twins were watching her intently even as Haruhi poured herself another cup of tea. "How come you aren't talking much? Shouldn't you be a better host than that?" They asked, switching from one to the other and ending in unicine.

Toshiko didn't bother turning her head up as she glanced at them from behind her falling locks of black hair. "I'm just appreciating my tea and the quiet. I don't mind you all being here, but I should remind you that I had only invited Haruhi. She is accustomed to my usual behavior. Though, I wouldn't expect you to understand why I revel in my thoughts rather than words after working a bit," the young woman murmured before taking a long drink from her cup. After the rim of the ceramic she exhaled and inhaled deeply.

"Don't you have a maid or something?"

Toshiko raised a brow at this as she looked up and glanced at Haruhi questioningly for a moment as if to ask, "Did he really just ask that?" But she didn't say anything as she refilled her mug. "I have myself. That's plenty."

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><p>Sorry this took so long. I've been having a bit of internal and family trouble as well as some severe mental breakdowns. I hope you enjoyed!<p> 


	3. Cards

Everyone was dead silent with a bunch of cards in their hands and several decks of cards mixed together were seperated into two piles and placed in the middle of the table. Fruits and chips and crackers were placed around the table along with everyone's glasses placed where ever was comfortable for them. It was just the way Toshiko liked it. The room was quiet save for the shuffling of cards in someone's hands or munching on food or what have you. Haruhi glanced out the window. "Toshiko-senpai, is that Elsa?" Haruhi asked in the middle of the silence.

Elsa was the neighbor kid who Toshiko babysat fairly often. Toshiko treated Elsa like her own kid, because Elsa's parents faught fairly often. The home owner backed her chair up and stood on her toes to look out the window before she sighed loudly and nodded. "Yeah," she muttered, "that's Elsa." After confirming the assumption she skurried off to the door and ran outside, picking up the small girl and twirling her around. The two entered, but Elsa took her babysitter's spot. "How about some apple juice, sweet pea?" Toshiko asked from the girl's side as she removed her own jacket and rested it on the smaller's shoulders. The neighbor girl only nodded with wide eyes and pulled the jacket close to her. "I'll go talk to your parents and I'll be right back. You can play cards, but be wary of those boys, I think they broke in," she said with a wink to the girl as she handed her a bottle of apple juice and hurried outside barefoot.

The neighbor girl turned out to be almost-seven. She had a small-but-cute button nose, round chesnut colored eyes, and long dark brown hair that was braided in the back. On top of all that, she played cards like a real champ and didn't get butthurt when she gained unwanted points from the card game. Like any little kid, she was antsy and impatient. Every round she would ask when Toshiko would be back, or why the host club broke into Toshiko's house. It wasn't long before she was enthalled in the card game and forgot about Toshiko as the sun set and outside grew darker.

The other guests were doing their best to avoid witty comments that a little kid like Elsa would take seriously. For a while quiet whispering was working. "I wonder if they killed her," one of the twins muttered to the other behind his palm.

"Shh, don't talk like that," the other whispered back behind his own hand as Elsa looked up at them with a fat, pouting lower lip that quivered slightly.

Luck hit everyone in the room when the front door opened and Toshiko entered the house, shutting the door and locking it behind her. There was a backpack and a bottle of medication in her hand. "Alright, Elsa, you're staying here tonight and going to daycare tomorrow morning. Go get ready for bed and I'll get the guest room ready," stated Toshiko as she waved at her guests and waltzed away into the kitchen.

"I don't wanna!" Elsa argued loudly and childishly.

The black haired teen returned to the room and set a chewable pill in front of the youngest guest. "If you don't get ready for bed and go to sleep, I will go to the closet. You know who's in the closet, right?"

"No!" Elsa shrieked, completely horrified. "Don't talk to the closet monster! He'll take you away too!"

"Take your vitamin and get ready for bed. Here's your things," Toshiko said and handed the small girl the bookbag. Once Elsa was out of the room the black haired girl gave an apologetic look to her guests. "Sorry about that, the neighbors are going through a rather... violent divorce. Um... You all can spend the night if you like, but I have to get her to sleep. It might take a little while."

Kyoya was the first to speak up, "We'd be happy to wait."

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><p>Toshiko hurried down the stairs about fifteen minutes after she had disappeared up them. Her first matter of business was leaning over the table and lightly smacking the twins upside the head. "Elsa told me what you two said, I wouldn't have minded had she not heard you," she explained with a playful scowl. "Who's staying the night and who isn't?" The black haired girl asked as she offered a raised brow.<p>

Hikaru and Kaoru stood at the same time and put their hands on their hips. "We have to go home. We're supposed to go on a trip tomorrow," they explained in turns before running off.

The card game was obviously done, so Toshiko started piling up the cards and clearing up the table. "I'm going to assume you're all staying then. Boys sleep in the living room. If you don't want to sleep on the floor or there isn't enough room on the couch, I can pull out however many cots are needed," she offered as she separated the different decks into piles and put them away.

"You're parent's are divorced, right, Toshiko?" Kyoya asked as he sipped tea from his cup.

"Yes," she responded easily, "is there something you're trying to get at?"

"I was just trying to grasp why you care so much about that neighbor girl," answered Kyoya smoothy. "But I'm sorry to hear about your parents."

The girl grunted as Haruhi helped her out by taking away the used dishes. "It's old news. I don't care. Elsa on the otherhand, needs to have somewhere safe to go when her parents start breaking glass."

Kyoya let it be as she hurried up the stairs for bedding, but his blond friend wasn't going to let it go. Tamaki followed her up the stairs. "That has to be hard on a kid, hard on you, I mean," he said, not the slightest bit of venom sounding in his voice. His tone of voice wasn't something Toshiko had heard in a long time. Somehow, despite how soothing he sounded, his words startled her. She stopped moving and started at the ground thinking over what the taller teen had said. When she turned to continue putting things together, the boy was slightly startled. "Are you not listening?"

Toshiko turned on the balls of her feet to face Tamaki and gave him a sad smile. "I hear everything, that's the only hard thing about growing up as the only adult," she sighed, "even though all I will ever be is a stupid, little girl."

"Is that really what you think of yourself?" The blond pressed on. "You think you're stupid?" The tone in his voice was baffled, though he did his best to stay quiet for the sleeping child in which ever room was the guest bedroom. "You think you're worthless? It's because of your brother isn't it?" He continued with the questions. "It's Nori who always got everything and you were pushed into the sidelines, right?"

"Tamaki, stop it," Toshiko whispered in near silence, her eyes veiled by bits of hair that had fallen out of their regular buns. Several neatly folded blankets rested in her arms as she pulled them out of the closet. "My life is my life. I feel what I feel. Nothing is going to stop me from any of that, not even me. I can't stop myself. I was raised stubborn and that's how I'm staying. I get it if you think little of me... I don't care if you think little of me either. Just let me be." After that, the girl pushed past him and scurried down the stairs to set up everyone's beds.


End file.
